August 31, 2017

by Paul Dupont

It seems like ages ago now when supporters of same-sex marriage were trotting out the argument: “How will someone else’s marriage affect you?” In the time since Obergefell, however, we have unfortunately learned the answer.

While Colorado baker Jack Phillips awaits his day in court — the Supreme Court, to be specific — after being sued for declining to serve a same-sex wedding ceremony, further cases of religious Americans being harassed and intimidated over their beliefs on marriage continue to pile up.

The latest example comes out of California, where Cathy Miller, the owner of Tastries Bakery, is under fire for her refusal to violate her conscience in her workplace:

A California bakery owned by Christians has been forced to take down its website and social media accounts after a “bombardment” of criticism and a boycott followed their decision not to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding involving two lesbians.

[Miller] explained that she was not refusing to serve a certain sort of customer, but rather to patronize a certain sort of event that goes against her religious convictions as a Christian.

“A ceremony, when you’re getting married is in the eyes of the Lord, okay, and that’s a celebration of a union that God has brought together and that’s a whole lot different than coming in and wanting a cookie,” Miller explained.

[…]

For years, Tastries has been referring gay customers who want a wedding cake to a competitor called Gimmee Some Sugar, so they can receive the service they ask for.

“I’m really hurt by this. I don’t think we should be picked on because of our beliefs,” Miller said.

In the last two days, LGBT activists have loaded a barrage of negative reviews against the bakery on Yelp and TripAdvisor in an effort to tank the business.

Fortunately for Miller, the backlash has been limited to online harassment. As we’ve detailed in the past, however, other traditional marriage believers have been forced to closetheir businesses due to threats made against them by the “tolerant” activists of the Left.

Let’s hope that cooler heads — not to mention the First Amendment — prevail in this instance. While Americans of good will can, and certainly do, disagree over the nature of marriage, they ought to be allowed to live out their beliefs amongst each other peacefully. That is, after all, the point of religious freedom.

The baker is right. Wedding cakes are a form of creative art and a cake artist should not be forced into service contrary to their conscience. God is real, relevant, superlatively superior and calls homosexuality sin.

If the bigot baker’s alleged “conscience” is against treating gays in his public accommodation with respect, then that bigot baker should not open a public accommodation where the law says you can’t discriminate against gay people. Problem solved. Bring your hate to your church, where you are free to express your disgust with the way God made people gay.

I am sorry Davie Old Boy worships a god who hates gay people. However, the God who made me gay did not put me on earth to be a second-class citizen. This real, relevant, superlatively superior God calls your bigotry a sin.

Privately-owned businesses that offer certain goods or services to the public – including food, lodging, gasoline, and entertainment -are considered public accommodations for purposes of federal and state anti-discrimination laws. For purposes of disability discrimination, the definition of a “public accommodation” is even more broad, encompassing most businesses that are open to the public (regardless of type).
Most Christians, including myself, have no problem accepting this as part of being an American citizen. We delight in the religious freedom of worshipping in our churches without government intrusion. We delight in the religious freedom of not being forced to accept the state religion Evangelicals would force on us. If an Evangelical has a religious problem serving gay people in a privately-owned business, then don’t open a public accommodation that puts you in the position of treating gay people with the professional courtesy one expects in public. Moreover, stop dishonestly invoking “religious liberty” when what you want is the license to promiscuously discriminate against people you hate.

The assault is against gay people. The assault is against common decency. The first amendment is alive and well in this country thanks to the fact that conservative churches are free to believe in a god that hates the LGBT community; they are not being forced to do anything, let alone perform same-sex marriages. A bakery, however, is a public accommodation, a secular business that is required to abide by the law. Dupont knows this. What he wants is the legal right to discriminate against gay people and he will use his god to do this dirty work. Plenty Christians are appalled by this bigotry.

Of course Paulie Old Boy neglects to mention that it is the right wing religionists who despise religious liberty. That is, it has been the right wing religionists that have tried to use the brute force of government to deny churches the right to perform legal same-sex marriages. As he says, “that is, after all, the point of religious freedom–but not for the right wing religionists!

Of course Paulie Old Boy also neglects to mention that public accommodations like these bakeries also cannot deny service to interracial couples either–even if they claim this discrimination is Biblically-based. That’s the law. If the disgusting bigots in this public accommodations don’t have common decency to serve gay people, they are free to open a different kind of business. Right wing churches can discriminate. Public Accommodations have to obey the law.